Children's Hospitals Today - Fall 2023 - 29

TECHNOLOGY / FEATURE
Building tomorrow's hospital today
IT'S NOT UNUSUAL for a hospital's chief information
officer to strive for the " hospital of
the future " by deploying today's newest technologies.
It's a bit more complicated for Denise
Zabawski. She's tasked with forecasting the
technological needs of a new inpatient hospital
tower that's still years away-so she's quite
literally building a hospital of the future.
" We won't be moving in until late 2028, so
we're trying to anticipate where technology
is going to go in five years, " says Zabawski,
vice president and chief information officer at
Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus,
Ohio. " It makes planning even more challenging
because we don't know the pace of innovation
and transformation that new products
are going to bring to the market. "
The new facility is the centerpiece of a
$3.3-billion expansion project at Nationwide
Children's. It will sit adjacent to the hospital's
current tower and is planned to be
slightly larger than the existing 750,000square-foot,
302-bed
structure. Although
Zabawski and her team are early in the
planning stages, the new tower will employ
cutting-edge technology.
Robotics
Autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) will move
carts carrying medical supplies,
A CLOSER LOOK
How to get
smarter
Creating a " smarter "
hospital doesn't require
building a brand-new
tower or securing the
resources for a massive
communications
hub. Here's what our
experts say about how
all children's hospitals
can maximize the role
technology plays in
elevating employee
efficiency and improving
patient outcomes.
linens and
food. Dedicated elevators and corridors will
accommodate the AGVs so they don't interfere
with patient and visitor traffic.
Robots also will clean the floors and assist
in providing security services. Cameraenabled
units will guard some of the hospital's
many secondary entrances and alert
protective services officers.
Rooms of the future
Each room will be outfitted with a digital footwall,
similar to a large, wall-mounted tablet.
Many patient and family needs will be met
through the interactive wall, such as pharmacy,
food orders and interpreter services.
School-age patients can join a classroom via
the footwall, or a parent can virtually visit
with the care team during rounding.
" Get the front line involved
from the beginning. We
were very intentional with
who we involved, and we
had them help us decide
what barriers take up the
most time and how we
should start addressing
each of those sequentially
to make sure that we're
improving. Then, put into
practice what they're
saying. It helps with
retention and well-being,
but it's also important
because they know their
work better than we do. "
Stephanie Meyer, RN, MSFNP,
NEA-BC, senior vice
president and chief nursing
officer, Children's Mercy
" Don't be afraid to
start small and take
incremental steps. And
try to leverage what you
already have; in some
cases, we don't use all our
assets. It's not necessarily
about buying net new
technologies. Sometimes
you see advertisements
for smart hospitals with
all this net new technology
and the first thing I
think is, 'Is it going to
On the clinical side, the footwall will enable
virtual patient sitters and remote monitoring.
It will also provide a snapshot of all the
patient's medical equipment data in real time,
which artificial intelligence will assess to predict
deterioration before it occurs.
" We want to build a patient room that is
high tech without looking high tech. I think
that's a big challenge, " Zabawski says. " We
want the room to be comforting and calming
and have space for families to stay and be
with their child. "
Enhanced streamlining
Zabawski wants to build functionality into
the new space to make the hospital more convenient
for both families and staff members.
One way she'll do this is by using virtual assistants
to pull insurance paperwork and write
discharge plans, freeing the nursing staff
to spend time at the bedside. " It's a common
thing we hear across the health care industry:
Patients and families don't feel like care providers
are paying attention to them because
they're so busy on the computer, and the
providers feel the same way, " Zabawski says.
" They've got to get their documentation done,
but that's not where they want to be-they
want to provide patient care. "
Another example is streamlining the food
service. " Everyone seems to hit the cafeteria
at the same time. No matter how well you design
it, there are always lines and backlogs, "
Zabawski says. " We're looking at an option
where you can get an alert when your food is
ready and go take it out of a locker. "
Planning for the future
Because the new tower is years to come, the
hospital is running pilot programs in the
existing inpatient tower for many of these
technological innovations. Piloting the
security robots, self-service food lockers and
aggregated patient data from the in-room
medical equipment lets the hospital to
determine if a technology will be useful and
helps iron out any bugs.
CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS TODAY Fall 2023
29
Children's Hospitals Today - Fall 2023

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